To Kill A Mockingbird Rhetorical Analysis

In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Atticus Finch utilizes italics, hypophora, and pathos in attempt to persuade the jury to return a not-guilty verdict. As depicted within the scene, Atticus cleverly emphasizes the word “all” to depict the stereotypes that many African American individuals faced at this time. He expounds upon the popular idea that “all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, and that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women” (273) as the citizens in the town believed that someone’s skin tone determined their character. Secondly, Mr. Finch uses hypophora to demonstrate his position and opinion within the court case. “What did she do? She tempted a Negro”

He automatically possessed ethos since he was already a well respected lawyer in the town, but he still provided other instances in his speech. Not only that, but Atticus’s examples of pathos developed guilt for Mayella, and appealed to the audience’s religious sense. Similarly, his application of logos through facts made the efficiency of pathos easier, since it caused the audience much doubt. Although Mr. Finch’s argument was unable to overpower the jury’s racial prejudice, he had a sense of duty to acknowledge Tom Robinson as an equal in the court, even when he knew defending Tom would be

Initially, ethos can appeal to the jury because Atticus is a very credible and trustworthy man. First, Atticus refers to a former president and his views on the subject. “One more thing, gentlemen, before I quit. Thomas Jefferson once said

Prose appeals to ethos in this essay by appealing to the reader as a mother, educator, and student. By writing from the perspective of both a student and educator, Prose shows how both are affected by assigned literature. By discussing her own two sons, she appeals to readers who are mothers by expressing her concern about their education.

Along with logos, pathos is also frequently used throughout Atticus’ closing argument. In the text, Atticus states, “And so a quiet, respectable, humble Negro who had the unmitigated temerity to ‘feel sorry’ for a white woman has had to put his word against two white people’s.” By saying this, Atticus is building up Tom’s likability, and is trying to conduct some sort of pity toward Tom from the jury members. Although some argumentative techniques are used in this speech more than others, they are not necessarily the most effective.

Atticus uses pathos and italics to give the Jury the feeling of guilt, which can later on dictate the Jury's decision on whether Tom Robinson is guilty or not. During Atticus’s speech he mentions that the people of Maycomb County follow “the evil assumption, that all Negroes lie, that all Negroes are basically immoral beings, that all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women.” Throughout the paragraph, Atticus uses logos to allow the jury, as well as the people of Maycomb, to understand that they are not thinking rationally if they were to believe that Tom Robinson is guilty. Though coming to the end Atticus begins to use pathos to provoke the feeling of guilt by mentioning that the townspeople follow an “evil assumption.” When stating

Ethos, pathos, and logos, three of the elements from Aristotle’s Triangle that enhanced Atticus’s convincing speech in the jury of Tom Robinson’s innocence. During the time that Atticus was in court, racism and hate was strong as equality did not exist among the negroes. Knowing that he could fail miserably and be judged negatively, Atticus Finch attempted to save a negro from being guilty. Therefore, Atticus almost convinced the jury with a strong stance as he incorporated Aristotle’s Triangle in his argument.

In the book To Kill A Mockingbird, Atticus makes a very powerful speech to the jury. The reason for this is because he uses powerful examples of the 3 main ways how to convince someone something. Those 3 ways are ethos, pathos, and logos. Atticus makes a great pathos statement when he says, “In the name of God, do your duty.” This is such a good quote because the south in the time people were very religious.

Research shows that children are more susceptible to commit crimes, fail in maintaining long lasting relationships and develop depression as well as other psychological disorders from the effects of bad parenting. In fact, many people grow up treating others the same way their parents have treated them with reference to their parents’ values, behaviours and attitudes. Harper Lee, an American author, expressed her childhood experiences in Alabama through writing the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. In this novel Harper Lee highlights the prevailing racist attitudes that existed in Alabama in the 1930s. Lee does this by having the parenting style of Atticus, and its impact on his children, stand in contrast to these prevailing racist attitudes. In To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee conveys that Atticus Finch is a great parent because he is not a hypocrite, he has a sense of fairness and he has good morals and values.

How to Speak How to Listen by Mortimer Adler discusses the best techniques to use while in an argument. According to Adler, ethos signifies one’s character. Ethos is present when one is trying to have a character that is fitting for the purpose at hand. Ethos includes making yourself attractive to the audience and proving to them that you are credible. An example of having ethos has a lot to do with how I would present myself to the audience. In order for them to believe that I am credible, I must look the part, that includes cleanliness, looking put together, and healthy. If the audience sees that you can take care of yourself, then they have a higher chance of believing that you can take care of them and their situation. Using ethos can also include presenting the audience with a personal story. This will fill them in with background information about myself and let them know how my character played out during whatever situation I spoke about. The situation would have to be similar to the one the audience is facing, in order for them to draw parallels and better understand how I would handle that particular event.

The book and the movie also had many examples of ethos in them. One of them would be where it says, “..., but it does require you to be sure beyond all reasonable doubt as to the guilt of the defendant.” That shows that it’s ethos because Atticus is saying that the jury needs to be absolutely sure that they are right about Tom Robinson before they sentence him because if they weren’t sure, it wouldn’t be fair or ethical. Another example would be where it says, “She was white, and she tempted a Negro. She

As one considers the the topic of emotions anger might come to their thoughts, anger might be one of the the more common thought of emotion as it often takes control of one’s life. Fear might be another one of the the emotions that comes to mind. Even hatred may be a choice, because everyone has a hatred for something or someone. When considering all of the emotions revenge reigns over all of them. Revenge causes many things to occur, from death to injuries.

Who would destroy something that contained a heart filled only with good? The answer to that can be found in the book To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee in an unjust time of unequal opportunity. The story follows the retelling of an 8-year-old girl named Jean Louis and those around her moral growth. She lives in Maycomb Alabama during the Great Depression. She has many chapters of growth including changing from afraid of a person to wanting to meet them, seeing people put on masks in order to avoid judgment, and watching an innocent man go to jail. Scout learns that to Kill a mockingbird is a sin for they have done no wrong, that people make that most meaningful mockingbirds, and the true significance of them because of the moral growth they bring about in people.

Imagine trying to convince a jury using ethos, pathos, and logos. Do you think you would be able to do that within a speech maybe, maybe not. Atticus said a speech using those three things. Atticus used ethos(character), pathos (emotion), and logos(logic) in his speech.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel that takes readers and shows them the struggles of racism, loss of innocence, human-behavior and many more all through the eyes of Scout Finch, A young Alabama girl. To Kill a Mockingbird shows the evil and dark side that all humans have, but also illustrates the good in the characters of Maycomb. This Novel reflects the educational, economic, and racial problems in the time it was set.